Society

Nepal poses potential to increase exports by four-fold: Report

A report unveiled by the World Bank here Friday has projected Nepal’s possibility to increase exports to South Asian countries by four-fold.

The report titled ‘A Glass Half Full: The Status of Regional Trade in South Asia’ edited by Sanjaya Kathurai was unveiled by Minister for Finance Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada.

The report states that Nepal, in spite of possibility of export business worth 2 billion USD, is hardly exporting goods totaling in half a billion USD.

Minister Khatiwada argued that Nepal could pave its path to economic prosperity by increasing investment in the areas that are of comparative advantage.

The Finance Minister said, “By increasing investment in the sectors with comparative advantages as tourism could help expand the close trade and would contribute to the job creations.”

According to him, the South Asian economy, mostly agro-based, could be boosted adopting the new manufacturing economic policies and services.

Stating that the state had accorded highest priority to the economic growth of the country since three decades, he opined that the target of economic growth could not be achieved due to the hindrances in development and investment sector.

Kathurai, who is also the lead economist in the World Bank, said that although there was huge potentially for trade and investment in Nepal, the trade and investment were very low.

Nepal mostly exports to South Asia and has a trade deficit of 10.8 billion USD which is equivalent to 37 per cent of its GDP.